“Besides the Jews, probably no other linguistic group has suffered so much persecution in history as the Igbo have been obliged to endure in Nigeria.”
—Nnamdi Azikiwe, 1964
Although the Nigeria-Biafra Civil War, which claimed the lives of more than one million Igbo ethnic group, ended more than four decades ago, it appears however, that our country has yet to learn any lesson from the devastating consequence of the war. Recent events have shown that the ruling elite are poised to reopen the wounds of our ugly past thereby perpetuating the injustices that triggered one of the worst chapters in our nation’s history.
A probing of the first half of Nigeria’s post-independence history has shown that the intriguing political timeline that led to the 1966 pogrom and the eventual civil war was as a result of the power struggle among the ruling elite and regional power blocs that sought to selfishly dominate political power shortly after independence from British rule.
The anti-Igbo feelings and ethnic mistrust that had brewed in the pre-colonial period also came to a head in the period after independence. It tragically culminated in the pogrom of 1966 and has also been blamed for the outbreak of the war. Whether this is true or not (although recent developments in the polity seem to confirm latent anti-Igbo feelings), it did however blossom into a full-blown ethnic mistrust among Nigeria’s major ethnic groups. In the early 1960s, for example, a general and widespread Igbo paranoia became a recipe for tension which later engulfed the country and threatened its very existence.
The rest is history.
When the war ended, the Gowon administration which had prosecuted the war, sought to heal the wounds of the past by re-integrating the Igbo back into the mainstream of the Nigerian society through his Reconciliation, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction programme. The three pronged approach included restoring what the ethnic group had lost economically and politically. But this post-war attempt to right the wrong by Gowon had been variously criticised as half-hearted and not far-reaching enough. Before the war, the Igbo had been at the commanding heights of commerce in the country. The war took a heavy toll on them politically and economically. Many Igbo lost properties and positions in the civil service and other sectors of the economy. They have never really recovered from the aftermath.
Sadly, many years after the war ended, the cries of marginalisation of the Igbo ethnic group have become more stringent. The need to right the wrong has often dominated political discourse. In recent times, no event has highlighted the persecution the Igbo are still suffering than the plight of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra. The current travails of the group in the hands of the Nigerian government have prompted me to reflect on the injustice in our country. It has also re-opened the existence or otherwise of an underlying anti-Igbo feeling harboured by the Nigerian establishment.
The plight of the group in the hands of the Nigerian government has helped to boldly put the issue in the sun (although it was never much in the shade). Whether we want to admit it or not, the predicament of the MASSOB has also brought to the fore the ugly truth of tribal discrimination in our country. The treatment of the MASSOB has portrayed Nigeria as the allegorical setting of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, where all animals are equal but some are more equal than the others. It has also shown that although we have fought the civil war and touted the “the no-victor no-vanquished” slogan, we are not ready to correct the imbalances and injustice that led to the war.
No group personifies the injustice the Igbo are facing in the country than the MASSOB. The group and its members are currently being victimised, harassed and persecuted by agents of government as was the case in the past administrations. Since its existence, MASSOB has been the subject of state sponsored intimidation. It has continued under this government. The recent recommendation for trial of MASSOB members for treason reinforces the deep-seated anti-Igbo feeling and marginalisation that many have alluded to years after the civil war ended. What explanation could possibly justify the recommendation for the trial of the Ralph Uwazurike-led non-violent group, MASSOB, while other groups like the Boko Haram and MEND have been offered amnesty? At its inception, MASSOB concentrated on organising peaceful rallies and protests which culminated in hoisting Biafran flags at different locations in the South-East.
In recent years, this practice has been reserved mainly for celebrating key dates and events or in commemoration of dead members in the region. Besides, it had also embarked on protests to protest arrests and killings of its members. In 2012, the Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria condemned the alleged killing of 16 members of MASSOB by security agencies in Anambra State. In February 2013, MASSOB claimed that several corpses found floating on the Ezu River on the boundary of Enugu and Anambra states were those of its members previously arrested by the police. It is also important to mention that the group’s peaceful campaign for self-determination is supported by all treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which recognises the right of all peoples to self-government/determination, including the right to freely determine their political status.
This key aspect of the International Bill of Rights known as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is a multilateral treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. The global statute commits its parties including Nigeria among 160 others and the 74 signatories to respect the civil and political rights of individuals including the right to life; freedom of religion, freedom of assembly and speech and right to due process and fair trial. But MASSOB’s peaceful agitation for self-government has been met with the brutality of the Nigerian government. Interestingly, MASSOB, like any other ethno nationalist groups, emerged because of the glaring inequalities and imbalances in Nigeria. The group, for example, is not different from the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta or Odua People’s Congress and others.
These groups emerged in the last few years because the Nigerian state and its ruling elite have continued the marginalisation and structural imbalances that had led to political tension in the country. This they have done to further their own selfish ends. It is exactly for these reasons that groups such as the MEND, OPC, Boko Haram and MASSOB have proliferated in recent times. But why is this government treating MASSOB differently? Why is the government negotiating with a murderous group like Boko Haram while persecuting members of MASSOB with genuine ideological reasons to agitate? The government offers to grant amnesty to criminals that have taken thousands of lives — a group that plans to Islamise the country while genuine agitations are suppressed. Till date, MASSOB members and their families are still being harassed and killed with impunity in various parts of Eastern Nigeria. How can we have an equitable and just society when criminals masquerading as terrorists are offered amnesty by the government? Why has the government not offered to address the grievances of MASSOB? Have they once been offered the chance to meet with the government for discussions?
One intriguing development in this sad narrative is the complicity of the Igbo elite and their political class. They have turned a blind eye to the suffering of MASSOB. Ironically, Northern elders have defended the terrorist activities of the murderous Boko Haram by asking for amnesty to be granted it. South-South leaders also vigorously supported the call for amnesty for MEND in the heat of the Niger Delta struggle for resource control. That the pan-Igbo cultural group, Ohaneze Ndigbo has not spoken up against the harassment and ill-treatment of their kith and kin beats the imagination. The chieftains of the group, sadly, are contented with feeding off the crumbs from the Federal Government at the detriment of their people’s future and aspirations. It’s a shame.
I call on the Federal Government to toe the path of justice. As a matter of urgency, the trial and harassment of MASSOB members should stop. The Jonathan administration should address the structural imbalances in the country that have made ethnic militias inevitable. If it could in good conscience conceive of amnesty for a known terrorist group that has spurned the corporate existence of the country, whose activities have left blood, tears and sorrow at their trail, what is it doing with hanging a treason charge on a non-violent movement that poses no danger to lives of Nigerians? What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
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